


Coming Up

by towardthesun



Series: See The Turtle [2]
Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 01:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18841138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towardthesun/pseuds/towardthesun
Summary: Sharon Denbrough is living a life underwater.Since the death of her son, she has done her best to not feel. Feeling brings awareness, and with awareness comes pain. Far too much pain for any person to bear. She knows it isn't fair, but it's easier not to care than to acknowledge her grief. Unfortunately, life has a way of making you face it head on, and now she faces a choice. Come up from where she has allowed herself to sink, or run the risk of losing the only child she has left? Luckily she won't be alone in trying to make that decisionA story of the parents.





	Coming Up

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been a long time in the making. I wrote it pretty much immediately after the first one but naturally forgot all about it under the hustle and bustle of my first year in college. Whelp college is over and now it's time for writing!! 
> 
> I hope you all like this one, it's very different compared to my first. If you're expecting much of the actual Loser's Club in this one, you'll have to stick with it. The first couple of chapters really are going to be about Sharon and the parent's, but I promise there will be some great Loser's Club content eventually!! 
> 
> P.S. I haven't thoroughly edited this piece so if there are some grammar mistakes please forgive them. I'm sure I will go through it later and completely change some things around

Sharon hadn't even been the one to notice the kids were missing. That was how far she had fallen as a mother.

She had been sitting alone in the kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee. The room was silent, too silent. It felt like she was underwater, a familiar almost comforting feeling. It was better than the alternatives. She stood up from where she was sat, walking out the door and into the parlor. She leaned against the doorway and stared into the dark room. The curtains were drawn and the top of the piano was shut, gathering dust. Sharon’s heart wrenched and she turned away from it. 

She could feel it watching her, ivory keys now eyes that were starring holes into her back and watching her heart bleed out. She had thought that the eyes would stop watching when the lid was over them, but that only made it worse. Sharon closed her eyes and held back the whimper that wanted to escape her lips. 

The piano had been a gift from Zach and all four of their parents, something to celebrate the birth of their first child. They had hidden it from her the whole time, and when she had first laid eyes on it, Sharon had wept at its beauty. She had grown up using a beat up peeling upright piano, her parents couldn’t afford anything else, but this instrument was a masterpiece. The black glossy surface, the leather seat, the curved shape of the lid propped open. It fit perfectly in their parlor, a testament to the perfectness of her life in that moment. 

She could remember walking into the house and seeing all five of them clustered in the foyer, watching her with baited breath. Bill was wrapped up in her arms in his little blue blanket, his breath warm against her breast. She had given them a curious glance, then turned to her left to see the baby grand. Her father had made some joke about a baby grand for a new baby, but she hadn’t been listening. Sharon was mesmerized by the ivory and sleek wood, the red bow wrapped around the body. She practically glided into the foyer, taking one arm away from the precious bundle in her arms to drag a hand across the gleaming keys. Her fingers had just brushed over them, but even that softest touch had created quiet music. Zach had stood beside her, his eyes shining, drinking in her happiness. She had wiped at her eyes and kissed him deeply, feeling their first born pressed between them, the piano talking in all of their energy. Happy, happy, happy, happy. 

Her fingers clenched around the coffee mug, mind fading to the many days she had spent teaching Bill and Georgie simple tunes. Her children were her first love and Zach was her second, but the piano had been her third and longest. She had started playing when she was three, and unlike most children she had taken to it immediately. For most of her life there wasn’t a day she didn’t play, even a small bit. That was over now. The perfectness shattered. Sharon couldn't even bring herself to clean the instrument she adored so. 

Sharon would drag through cleaning everything else, but when she got to that final room, that one final place, she just stood stock still. She would put one finger on the cursed object, and think;  _ I was playing this. I was playing this instead of watching my sons. Then my baby died. _

Then the buzzing noise would start, quiet at first then screaming until she clapped her hands over her ears and fled away from her piano. So there it stayed, gathering dust and making her sick with both longing and frustration. Half of her wanted to beg Zach to get rid of the piano, and the other half stayed stubbornly silent. The punishment of seeing it was fitting for her, the pain of it too unbearable to deal with. The thoughts chased their tails in her mind, the memories crashing against the realities she refused to believe in, and instead of being underwater, her head was starting to fill with the buzzing once more.

Sharon moved away from the parlor and went back into the kitchen. The kitchen was safe. The only memory of Georgie in here was his school photo. Once in her safe pace, Sharon rummaged savagely through the cabinets, searching for something to stop the buzzing. Irish coffee it was then. The bite would bring her back under blissful waves of nothingness.

Just as she brought down the amber bottle of whiskey, the phone rang, stabbing through the air. A long sigh escaped Sharon and she trudged over, barely catching it on its last ring. Sharon opened her mouth to say hello, but she never got the chance. Sonia Kaspbrak was on the line, blubbering about Eddie running off after a fight. 

“Eddie isn’t here Sonia,” Sharon calmly responded, sending a longing look at her whiskey bottle, “I don’t even think Bill is home,” 

It wouldn't have been the first time Eddie had run away to her home, so she understood why Sonia was calling. That didn’t stop a sharp spike of irritation from coursing through Sharon’s veins. The irritating woman was going on and on about ‘what if’ this and ‘what if’ that. Sharon didn’t deal in ‘what if’ anymore. She already knew what if. 

Sonia continued to cry and winge, and Sharon hedl the phone away from her while the other woman wailed. AFter a few minutes of the pathetic display, Sharon pulled the phone back to her ear and agreed to call Andrea Uris, if only to get Sonia off of the phone. Dialing took an age, and each ring took even longer. Sharon skipped over her coffee and took a swig straight from the bottle, wanting to drown out the real and imaginary buzzing that was causing her head to ache. All this did was add to the buzzing with a fire in her throat that brought uncomfortable tears to her eyes. 

"Hello?" Andrea Uris answered the phone after a normal amount of rings, something Sharon shouldn’t have been jealous of. She even sounded put together, something Sharon herself couldn’t quite manage these days. Andie Uris was not only the mother of Stan Uris, she was also one of Sharon’s closest friends. Neither of them could remember if the boys had become friends first or if they had, but in the end it didn’t matter much. Both sets were thick as thieves and had spent countless mornings and afternoons in one another’s company. Besides Zach, Sharon thought that Andie Uris probably knew her better than anyone else in the world.

Andie was a sharp witted woman, fun to be around, and Jewish. The last part made things difficult, but not between the two of them. It was easier to just act like she never noticed what made people different from other people. It was, after all, the Christian thing to do. After Georgie had died, she actually had stopped noticing.

"Andie, it's Sharon Denbrough. Sorry to call out of the blue, but I was wondering if the boys were at your house?" She finally managed to gasp out past the burn of the alcohol. Andie groaned and Sharon could practically see the other woman shaking her head

"Let me guess...Sonia,"

A cruel smirk worked its way onto Sharon's face, and she hated herself for it. It wasn't necessarily nice to make fun of the other woman, especially behind her back, but some people just made it so easy. Sonia Kaspbrak was definitely one of these people. From her face, to her body, to her nasally awful screech, it was a wonder anyone had found Sonia beautiful enough to marry at one point. But married she had been, and of that marriage came Eddie, a polite and charming boy who was too meek to last in this world.

No Sharon didn't actually feel bad for making fun of Sonia. If she felt bad for anyone, she felt bad for Eddie. That poor slip of a boy would one day find his back broken under the weight of his mother, of that Sharon was sure. Eddie had many great characteristics, but he was weak at the end of the day. Then again Sharon didn’t really feel like she could judge. She was weak too. 

"Of course it's Sonia," Sharon responded hollowly. Making fun of the other mother was only fun for a brief moment. Now the hole in her chest was back, and she just wanted to know where Bill was so she could promptly forget about worrying after him, "But I haven't seen Bill all day either. He usually calls if he's going to be out for lunch," 

This was a lie, but no need for Andie Uris to start thinking that she was not a fastidious mother.

"Oh," Was all Andie said before a long pause that left Sharon squirming where she stood. She was about to ask if the line had dropped when Andrea finally spoke.

"Stanley ran out sometime this morning. He hasn't checked in with me yet. I can call his father to see if he stopped by the synagogue, but Don would've called to tell me that..."

Andrea trailed off, obviously worried now. Sharon's heat gave a lurch, but she buried her own anxiety under anger. Anger at Sonia for calling her, anger at the boys for not checking in, anger at her own heart that had begun to beat viciously. She knew something was wrong but also, no. Nothing was wrong. Nothing would be wrong. She couldn't handle it if....Nothing was wrong. Sharon gave Andrea some simple patitudes, getting off the phone as fast as she could. She dialed Sonia back, having to restart the number twice when her fingers turned the wrong dials. Finally the dial tone began properly, only to be interrupted almost immediately. 

"Did you find my Eddie?" Sonia asked, picking up on the first ring. No hello, no how are you, just a brisk desperate efficiency which only made Sharon feel more unease, "How hurt is my little boy?"

"Andrea doesn't know where they are," Sharon said woodenly. Sonia launched into a tirade which Sharon ignored. She was thinking about Bill's actions the last few days. 

She couldn't think of anything he had done that would raise any suspicion. When she thought harder, Sharon couldn't really think of anything Bill had done at all in the last few weeks. She had seen his dishes in the sink, seen his books left all around the house, noticed when his bike was in the driveway, but when was the last time she had seen Bill in person? When was the last time she had spoken to him? Sonia was still ranting and something she said caught Sharon's attention.

"That horrible little slut. That Beverly-" Sharon cut Sonia off before she could go completely off the rails

"Beverly? Beverly who?" That name was familiar, pushing at Sharon's mind. She could remember almost two months ago, Bill made an offhand comment about a girl at dinner. Sharon had ignored him at the time, being underwater made it hard to listen to those on dry land, and she cursed herself now for it. Was Beverly her name?

"Beverly Marsh,” From the way Sonia said this, Sharon understood everything she needed to about what Sonia thought of her, “The girl who lives on the other side of the tracks. She's been hanging around with the boys getting them up to no good. Doing dirty sinning things," 

Sharon rolled her eyes as Sonia's harsh tone turned accusatory, "Sharon haven’t you been paying attention to what they've been doing? You are Bill’s Mother"

"Of course I have been paying attention," Sharon snapped back instantly, any amusement she had left for the situation disappearing.  _ Liar _ the voice of in the back of her mind sang. Sharon ignored it as always, "Where does she live?"

Sonia gave Sharon the address and she hung up without saying goodbye. That would probably come back to bite her the next time she had to interact with Sonia, but Sharon was now on a mission. She called out for her husband and Zach appeared almost instantly in the doorway from the garage, breathless and worried. Sharon figured it was her tone that had put him on edge, but she didn’t particularly care what it was. She had to go find Bill, if for no other reason than to shake him thoroughly and remind him that he had to check in with her every hour now. Kids were disappearing almost every day. Sharon strode past her husband, grabbing a jacket to put over her house dress and walking into the oppressive August heat.

"Get in the car. We're going to Alvin Marsh's house," Zach didn't bother to question his wife or her biting tone. He just got in the driver's seat and pulled out of the garage. He knew enough to know that Sharon would go with or without him, and it would be that much better for both of them if he was with her. Sharon knew how she must look to her husband, disheveled and wild eyed in only her housecoat slippers and a light jacket, but she didn't bother to explain to him. For the first time since that rainy day in October, Sharon felt alive. It wasn’t a good feeling. It was awful.

By the time they pulled up to the curb in front of the Marsh's home, Sharon's aliveness had faded back to mute horror. She slipped beneath the waves again, honey and familiar in their cutoff push and pull. She gave the home a once over, puzzled by it. 

The fence was freshly painted, and the windows were wiped clean. The pathway up to the door was trimmed neatly, and there was green vegetation in the window boxes. All the same, Sharon felt a shudder roll down her spine. It felt haunted. Underneath the politely demure exterior, this was a house of horrors. She got out before Zach had finished parking, ignoring his cut off curses. Unlike Sonia she didn't think that the girl of the home ( _ Beverly some part of her whispered _ ) was doing anything untoward with her son. Rather she had the strangest feeling of wrongness. The same feeling she had when she woke up at night screaming for Georgie, the feeling she got sometimes when she heard Bill whimper along in his room late at night. A feeling she related to her childhood, although she couldn't remember many things from it. 

The feeling of being prey to something that was drooling in front of you. A lion of the night prowling behind your back, with you as the sacrificial lamb. 

By the time she had gotten to the door, Zach had detached himself from the car. He asked her some question, but Sharon couldn't hear it. She was entranced, walking towards the front door in a daze. It was falling off of its hinges, the lock broken in half. He caught her upper arm, pulling her back

"Sherri don't," He managed to say, fear lacing his voice. She shook her head and brushed him off, walking through the doorway. Bill had been here today. She knew it.

The inside of the house was dark and musty, betraying the cheery outlook for the front. This was the underbelly she had sensed from the first moment she saw the Marsh house. The TV was on, running some asinine children's show. Everything smelled like the house had been left to rot from twenty years. Sharon heard Zach enter right behind her, barely concealed insults voiced in a hushed whisper. She walked further in, ignoring her husband's calls to come back.

Unknowingly Sharon began to take the same exact path her son had taken not even two hours earlier, her feet falling in the exact same places his had. She entered a dreary hallway, the doom and gloom being interrupted by two spots of light. Two open doors. 

Sharon approached the first door, peeking her head around the frame then stilling, a gasp caught in her throat. 

Alvin Marsh was sprawled on the bathroom floor, his blood congealing where it spilled from his head. His skull was cracked open like an egg, and Sharon vaguely thought that she may never make omelettes again. Her hands were pressed against her mouth, but she didn't feel the sudden urge to scream. Rather she stood stock still, shaking like a little girl in the cold. Is this how her Georgie had looked? Is this what had happened to him? Zach walked up behind her, then turned away

"Jesus H Christ!" He exclaimed, eyes wide and breath gasping, "What the fuck Sharon?"

"Where is she?" Sharon said, backing away from the doorway to the corpse. Her back hit the wall and her hands fell from her face to clutch at the peeling wallpaper. Her head turned left and right, searching the tiny apartment, "Where is she?

"Where's who?" Zach demanded, face turning green at the sight of the dead body.

"Beverly," Sharon answered, turning to the other open doorway. She didn't walk through, not ready to see another dead body. Who would it be this time? 

A little girl with dark red hair and freckles dancing along her cold nose? A slip of a boy who was clutching an aspirator that he would never be able to use again? A Jewish lad just barely grazing the age that they would consider him a man? Or would it be her own child, the one that she had now failed so dearly? The boy who had wide searching eyes that begged her to look at him, just look at me, mama, please look at me?

But no, no dead children were in the room. No one was in the room. It seemed for all purposes a perfectly normal girl's bedroom. A piano in one corner, a bed in another. Looking at the piano made Sharon nauseous. The room was painted ostentatiously pink with lace curtains hanging in the window. All normal, all innocuous. Except. Sharon let her eyes trail upwards, caught again by the message dripped from the ceiling in blood.

**_YOU DIE IF YOU TRY_ **

"We need to call the police," Zach finally managed, grabbing Sharon's arm again. She allowed herself to be pulled away this time, shutting herself off against the wave of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. The message was clear, and it was not for her. A sinking feeling in her gut told her that she knew who the message was for, and that if she was right, she was horribly close to losing the only son she had left.

If the message was for Bill as her mind kept screaming it was, then there was no chance he wouldn't do everything in his power to try and save this little girl. He was strong, as strong as she was weak. And if he tried.. If he did, Sharon would once again be planning the funeral of one of her children. 

**Author's Note:**

> Not quite a cliffhanger because of course, we know Bill isn't going to die but! I hope you enjoyed it all the same. The next chapter is going to flesh out the other parents a bit more, along with hopefully having a little bit more action. It's pretty much all written so I hope to have it out by the end of the week! Until then please leave a comment or kudos! **BIG** shout out to BringMeReckoning who basically is the reason you all have this new installment!!


End file.
